Gomez was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, but his parents subsequently moved to the cities of Los Angeles and (later) Tustin, California, partly so as to enable Gomez to go to college and continue boxing. He had started boxing aged 10, and had an amateur record of 80-10 (80 wins to 10 losses). He was managed along the way by his father, an ex-boxer himself, and he never took orders from anyone else. He has two brothers.

He fought and lost to Ishe Smith in 2001 and he would later become the roommate of Smith on "The Contender." On the show, he was placed on the West Coast team (as was Smith) and challenged the high-ranked Peter Manfredo Jr. in the first fight. He beat the then undefeated Rhode Islander in a shock fight, although that wasn't the end of Manfredo.

In the quarterfinals, he fought Ahmed Kaddour (who had been brought back in to replace Juan De la Rosa) and won a tough battle. After the fight Gomez pointed to his badly swollen and bruised face and said "This is my sacrifice...I gave it my all". The semifinal round saw him up against Manfredo (who had been bought back in to replace Jeff Fraza) again, a fight Manfredo was very keen on. This time round however, the man from Guadalajara lost. He may take some consolation from having beaten Jesse Brinkley in the 3rd Place fight, which guaranteed him a nice packet of prize money - and the whole experience catapulted him to a world ranking of 21 out of 861.

Gomez has always expressed a desire to become World Champion. He is still managed and coached by his father, Alfonso Gomez, Sr.